ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Centre rushes High Level team to Maharashtra to support the State in effective public health interventions for Zika
Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has rushed a multidisciplinary team to Maharahstra to monitor the Zika virus situation and support the State government in management of Zika cases. A case of Zika has been reported in Pune district recently.
The three member Central team consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune; a gynecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; and an entomologist from National Institute of Malaria Research , ICMR, New Delhi.
The team shall work closely with the State Health Department, take a stock of the situation on ground and assess whether the Union Health Ministry’s Action Plan for Zika Management is being implemented, and recommend necessary public health interventions for management of Zika in the state.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Government releases Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India
Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Babul Supriyo today called for generating awareness towards preventing and restoring land degradation for healthier and sustainable ecosystems. Speaking at a virtual event celebration of the Desertification and Drought Day, Shri Supriyo said, this will help better economy and overall human wellbeing.
The Desertification and Drought day was commemorated by the Ministry, with an aim to generate large scale awareness towards understanding the key role of land in all environmental and economic concerns, that world, as well as India is facing now-a days.
On the occasion, the Minister of State released the latest version of “Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India. It has been published by Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad. The Atlas provides state wise area of degraded lands for the time frame 2018-19. It also provides the change analysis for the duration of 15 years, from 2003-05 to 2018-19.
Secretary in the Ministry Shri RP Gupta said, the salient findings of this Atlas are not only useful as a ready reference, but, will also be helpful in strengthening the envisaged National Action Plan for achieving land restoration targets by providing important baseline and temporal data and technical inputs.
The secretary further stated that the salient findings of this Atlas are not only useful as a ready reference, but, will also be helpful in strengthening the envisaged National Action Plan for achieving land restoration targets by providing important baseline and temporal data and technical inputs.
The event also observed release of Coffee Table Book “India Hosting UNCCD-COP 14” and a short film on UNCCD-COP 14. The commemoration of this event encourages individuals and groups to take initiatives that can keep the land healthy and productive.
India hosted the 14th session of Conference of Parties  of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification  in September 2019. India is striving towards achieving the national commitments of Land Degradation Neutrality  and restoration of 26 Million ha of degraded land by 2030 which focus on sustainable and optimum utilisation of land resources.
India has been at the forefront of bringing the issue of land degradation to the core of relevant international alliances for protection and conservation of environment. The government of India has adopted collective approach for making progress towards achieving the national commitments related to land restoration.
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Much awaited Rani-Jhansi Flyover inaugurated in Delhi.
Free flow of traffic would help in reducing pollution and nearly 5 lakh commuters will be benefitted: Dr. Harsh Vardhan
All pending projects in Delhi to be completed by March 2019: Union Urban Affairs Minister
Rani Jhansi Grade separator, the ambitious flyover project in north Delhi was thrown open to public by Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The six-lane, 1.8-km grade separator will provide connectivity to St Stephen’s Hospital near the Tiz Hazari Courts complex with Filmstan Cinema and also it will provide a link with the intersections for Baraf Khana, DCM Chowk, Azad Market and Subzi Mandi areas of Delhi.
Speaking at the inauguration Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that despite missing multiple deadlines since laying of its foundation stone nearly a decade ago, the Union government ensured that funding should not come in the way of completion of this much needed flyover.“Nearly 43 percent of the construction work was done in the last one year and though we faced lot of challenges in construction of this separator, we kept working on the project and finally it is ready for citizens. Not only it will benefit nearly 5 lakh commuters daily but a free flow of traffic would help in reducing pollution and save fuel as well”, added Dr. Vardhan
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Shri. Hardeep Singh Puri who was also present at the inauguration said that when finances became a bottleneck in completion of this project the ministry decided that 80 percent of the fund will be through Urban Development Fund and 20% of the fund will be borne by Delhi Development Authority .”The Union Government is aggressively spearheading a series of pending projects in Delhi and all such projects will be completed by March 2019”, added Shri. Puri.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Shri Piyush Goyal holds meeting with the Export Promotion Councils to discuss various issues concerning the international trade
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri PiyushGoyal, and Senior Officers of the Department of Commerce and Directorate General of Foreign Trade  today held a meeting with the Export Promotion Councils to discuss various issues concerning the international trade.
Shri Goyal complimented the Exporters for their encouraging performance, even during such trying times. He noted that India’s merchandise exports in April 2021 was USD 30.21 billion, an increase of 197.03% over USD 10.17 billion in April 2020 and an increase of 16.03% over USD 26.04 billion in April 2019. He said that the value of Export in the first week of May 2021 is also up by almost 9% over the same period of 2019-20 . He said that Export excluding POL, is even better, and has increased in this period by 15% over same period of 2019-20. He said that performance of exports in April’21 and 2020-21 gives a hope that an ambitious target of $400 billion merchandise exports can be achieved this year. There is a large potential for enhancing exports in several sectors like Pharma, Engineering, Auto-component, Fisheries and Agro-products, he added.
Regarding the issues raised by the participants, Shri Goyal said that they should approach the Covid helpdesk of the Department for resolving the problems emanating due to Covid related measures. He said that the Department of Commerce has taken up several issues of exporters with the Ministry of Finance for their early resolution, like RoDTEP, MEIS, Inverted duty structure etc. He called upon the exporters to take advantage of the Production-Linked Incentive schemes for various sectors which have been announced.
Prime Minister's Office
PM remembers Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on 75th Anniversary of tricolor hoisting at Port Blair
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has remembered Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on 75th Anniversary of tricolor hoisting at Port Blair. In a tweet, the Prime Minister said,
"30th December 1943...a day etched in the memory of every Indian, when the brave Netaji Subhas Bose unfurled the Tricolour at Port Blair. To mark the 75th anniversary of this special day, I had gone to Port Blair and had the honour of hoisting the Tricolour. Sharing some memories."
Ministry of Minority Affairs
Funds for Nai Roshni Scheme
Nai Roshni scheme is a Central Sector scheme which aims to empower and enhance confidence in women by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for Leadership Development of Women.
It is a six-day non-residential/five-day residential training programme conducted by selected Programme Implementing Agencies for the women belonging to minority community in the age group of 18 to 65 years. The training programme cover areas related to programmes for women, health and hygiene, legal rights of women, financial literacy, digital literacy, Swachch Bharat, Life Skills, and advocacy for social and1behavioural changes, etc. Scheme-specific other detailed information is available at website http://nairoshni-moma.gov.in . The scheme provides for hand-holding of all the beneficiaries for a period upto 12 months after the training.
During the last three year i.e. 2018-19 to 2020-21, funds to the tune of Rs. 26 crores have been sanctioned under the scheme through which around one Lakh women have been trained. State-wise details of financial progress for the last three years is placed at Annexure.
ANNEXURE
State-wise Financial achievement during last three financial years

|
|
S.No.
|
|
States
|
|
Fund Released

|
|
1
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
0.39
|
|
2
|
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
|
0.03
|
|
3
|
|
Assam
|
|
1.34
|
|
4
|
|
Bihar
|
|
0.14
|
|
5
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
|
0.14
|
|
6
|
|
Delhi
|
|
0.59
|
|
7
|
|
Gujarat
|
|
0.03
|
|
8
|
|
Haryana
|
|
0.51
|
|
9
|
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
|
0.03
|
|
10
|
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
|
0.30
|
|
11
|
|
Jharkhand
|
|
0.12
|
|
12
|
|
Karnataka
|
|
0.29
|
|
13
|
|
Kerala
|
|
0.16
|
|
14
|
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
|
3.11
|
|
15
|
|
Maharashtra
|
|
0.50
|
|
16
|
|
Meghalaya
|
|
0.02
|
|
17
|
|
Nagaland
|
|
0.08
|
|
18
|
|
Odissa
|
|
0.15
|
|
19
|
|
Punjab
|
|
0.29
|
|
20
|
|
Rajasthan
|
|
1.08
|
|
21
|
|
Telangana
|
|
0.13
|
|
22
|
|
Tamil Nadu
|
|
0.22
|
|
23
|
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
|
15.91
|
|
24
|
|
Uttarakhand
|
|
0.65
|
|
25
|
|
West Bengal
|
|
0.47
This information was given by the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
President's Secretariat
With Missions Like Operation ‘Samudra Setu’ and ‘Mission Sagar’, the Indian Navy was a Key Instrument of India’s Covid Outreach: President Kovind
President of India Presents Colour to Indian Naval Aviation
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind said that the Indian Navy has invested significant effort in meeting all regional commitments and furthering our diplomatic engagements with friends and partners in the Indo-Pacific. With missions like Operation ‘Samudra Setu’ and ‘Mission Sagar’, the Navy was a key instrument of India’s COVID outreach, delivering assistance and support to our maritime neighbours and partners in the Indian Ocean Region. The prompt and effective deployment of the Indian Navy in the time of crisis, has underscored India’s vision of being the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ in the Indian Ocean Region.
He was speaking on the occasion of presentation of President’s Colour to the Indian Naval Aviation today  at INS Hansa in Goa.
The President congratulated all officers and sailors of the Indian Naval Aviation for achieving this feat. He said that the Colour presented today was the recognition of its exceptional service rendered to the Nation, in peace and war.
The President noted that the Indian Naval Aviation has contributed through numerous Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations during which it has provided relief to fellow citizens like the recently conducted rescue operations off Mumbai during Cyclone Tauktae in May 2021. It has also provided crucial assistance to several neighbouring countries and nations in the Indian Ocean Region.
Speaking about the indigenisation programme of the Indian Navy, the President said that the Indian Navy has actively taken up indigenisation which is well reflected in its current and future acquisition plans. He noted that in pursuance of the Government of India’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, Indian Naval Aviation has also made steady progress in consonance with the Make in India drive. He said that with resounding progress in aviation technology, naval aircraft are being installed with modern, state of the art indigenous, weapons, sensors and Data Link suites. The recent inductions of Advanced Light Helicopters as well as Dornier and Chetak aircrafts manufactured indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited highlight our march towards ‘Atma-nirbharta’ in defence sector, he added.
Ministry of Railways
Indian Players won men's and women's singles, mixed doubles, doubles and team titles in USIC International Railway Sports Association Table Tennis Championship organised by Railway Sports Promotion Board at Jaipur
Total five teams -Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Switzerland and India participated in this prestigious Championship
Indian players won men's and women's singles, mixed doubles, doubles and team titles in USIC International Railway Sports Association Table Tennis Championship which was organised by North Western Railway Sports Association under the aegis of Railway Sports Promotion Board from 21st November to 25th November 2022 at Jaipur. Total five teams -Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Switzerland and India participated in this prestigious Championship.
The Championship was inaugurated by Mr. Gautam Arora, AGM, NWR on 22nd November 2022. Chairman CTT, USIC Mr. Sebastian Picca, Director Activity Mr Kevin Lebure, Secretary Railways Sports Promotion Board Mr Prem Lochab, General Secretary North West Railway Sports Association Mr. Anuj Kumar Tayal were present on the occasion. Indian players made the country and Indian Railways proud by securing first position in men's and women's team event, doubles in men's and women's category, mixed doubles and first place in men's and women's singles competition.
Ronit Bhanja of Indian Railways won gold, Siksha Jain silver and Anirban Ghosh bronze medal in men's singles and Sutirtha Mukherjee of Indian Railways won gold, Dharna Sen silver and Poyamanti Vaishya bronze medal in women's singles.
Indian Railway players won gold, silver and bronze medals in mixed doubles events. In men's doubles, the Indian team won gold, silver and France won bronze medals, similarly in women's doubles, Indian team won gold, Czech Republic won silver and India and Czech Republic players won bronze medals. In the team event, Indian Railway's men's team won gold, France's silver and Czech Republic won bronze medals and in the women's section, India won gold, Czech Republic's silver and France's bronze medals.
During closing ceremony, Chief Guest Mr. Vijay Sharma, General Manager - North Western Railway honoured the winners with medals and trophies. Mr Deepak Peter Gabriel Vice President RSPB & PED Railway Board was guest of honour. Mr. Brijesh Kumar Gupta, president NWRSA and CAO, Mr Gautam Arora AGM, NWR, Mr Prem Lochab, Secretary, RSPB, Mr Anuj Kumar Tayal, Secretary NWRSA, Mrs Sebastian Picca, Chairman CTT USIC, Mr Kevin Lebure director activity, PHOD'S', Sports coordinators from RSPB and many officers of Railways were present on the occasion.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Technology Development Board under DST invites technology proposals for fighting COVID 19
Proposal applications from Indian companies and enterprises to address protection and home-based respiratory intervention for COVID-19 patients
Proposals may be submitted online via TDB website www.tdb.gov.in on or before 27th March 2020
In the last few decades, various viral diseases have spread across continents and caused massive fatalities. The latest in the list is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put the healthcare system of various countries out of gear. Protection of the general population needs efficient clinical masks and sanitisers, suitable devices for screening and detection, homebased ventilator systems to complement healthcare facilities and other products and technologies to monitor and control the spread of diseases.
The Technology Development Board , a statutory body under Department of Science & Technology invites proposal applications from Indian companies and enterprises to address protection and home-based respiratory intervention for COVID-19 patients. The proposal may include technologically innovative solutions like low-cost masks, cost-effective scanning devices, technologies for sanitization of large areas as well as for contactless entry, rapid diagnostic kits and oxygenators, and ventilators.
The Board provides financial assistance by means of soft loans , Equity participation  or grant in exceptional cases, for encouraging the commercial application of indigenously developed technology; and for adapting imported technology to wider domestic application.
Proposals may be submitted online via TDB website www.tdb.gov.in on or before 27th March 2020. The details can be downloaded from www.tdb.gov.in. Queries may also be raised via the Feedback/Query option on the TDB website. The submitted proposals will be evaluated on the basis of scientific, technical, commercial, and financial merits.
The areas in which the technologically innovative solutions are invited include the following:
- Low-cost masks which can capture virus from the air and absorb respiratory droplets
- Cost-effective Thermal Scanning
- Large area sanitization and sterilization 
- Bioinformatics and Surveillance
- Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis kit 
- AI and IoT based solution for contact-less entry
- Oxygenators and ventilators 
- Or any other related technology
Special Service and Features
Visit of Minister of State for External Affairs Shri V. Muraleedharan to Kenya and the State of Eritrea
Minister of State  for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Shri V. Muraleedharan will visit the Republic of Kenya on 13 September 2022 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President elect Dr. William Samoei Ruto as the 5th President of the country. Thereafter, he will pay an official visit to the State of Eritrea on 14-15 September 2022. This will be his first visit to the country.
In Kenya, MoS Shri V. Muraleedharan will attend the official swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect which will take place on 13 September 2022. He will also attend a business event where he is expected to meet and address the captains of Kenyan industry and business persons doing business with India. The minister will also attend a community event where he will interact with the members of the Indian community living in Kenya. India enjoys friendly and historic relations with Kenya underpinned by high-level exchange of political visits. The visit by Shri V. Muraleedharan is expected to further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries.
In Eritrea, the minister will call on the President Mr. Isaias Afwerki and hold talks with Foreign Minister Mr. Osman Saleh Mohammed on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. Hewill also interact with the Indian community in Eritrea during the visit.
India enjoys warm and cordial relations with Eritrea. Since its independence in 1993, India has offered a range of capacity-building assistance in diverse fields to the youth of Eritrea. A sizeable Indian community is living in Eritrea, mostly Professors and Teachers and those working for companies. The visit is likely to give new momentum to India’s relations with Eritrea.
NS
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Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Ban of Pan Masala
As per theNational Cancer Registry Programme ofIndian Council of Medical Research , the estimated number of mortality due to cancer of mouth was 34,668, 37,212 and 39,951 in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. These estimates are however subject to certain limitations on data. Also, there is no separate data available to ascribe the above deaths to Pan Masala consumption.
Standards of Pan Masala are specified under sub-regulations 2.11.5 of Food Safety and Standards  Regulations, 2011. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India  has not issued any direction to ban Pan Masala. However, as per provisions of sub-regulation 2.4.5  of Food Safety and Standards  Regulations, 2011, every package of Pan Masala and advertisement relating thereto is required to carry the following warning, namely-“Chewing of Pan Masala is injurious to health’
Further, sub-regulation 2.3.4 of Food Safety and Standards  Regulations, 2011 provides that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food product, which includes Pan Masala also.
Enforcement of provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Rules & Regulations made thereunder primarily lies with States/UTs. As per sub-section 2 of Section 30 of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.Commissioners of Food Safety has been conferred with power to prohibit injurious products in the interest of Public Health. Accordingly, most of the States/UTs have already banned products including gutkha and panmasala containing tobacco and nicotine.
To comply with the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Rules and Regulations made thereunder, regular surveillance, monitoring, sampling of food items including Pan Masala is done and inspections are carried out by Food Safety Officials of States/UTs. In cases where samples are found to be not conforming to the provisions of the Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder, recourse is taken to the penal provisions under Chapter IX of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The Minister of State , ShAshwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Union Sports Minister Shri Anurag Singh Thakur inaugurates new sports infrastructure in SAI NCOE Lucknow
With an effort to further strengthen the sports infrastructure available at Sports Authority of India's National Centre of Excellence in Lucknow,
the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur on Sunday inaugurated a 300-bedded hostel, an upgraded hall for wrestling with state-of-the-art facilities in line with international standards and a sports medicine centre.
SAI NCOE Lucknow has been the centre of women's wrestling National camps with India's elite women wrestlers training there.
The addition of the 300-bedded hostel increases the capacity of NCOE Lucknow to house 460 athletes at any given time, including national campers. The new hostel will be dedicated to women athletes while the existing two hostels of 80 beds each will be reserved for boys training in the centre.
The sports medicine centre, which has been upgraded from the existing medical centre, will have sports science experts as well as a sports psychologist. Advanced biomechanic machines are being installed to make it a fully-equipped sports science centre.
Speaking at the launch, Shri. Thakur said, "The SAI Lucknow centre was a small centre earlier which has now been revamped to match international training standards. Our efforts are always to ensure that our athletes have the facilities that can help them perform better and these changes are a step in that direction."
Shri Thakur stressed particularly on the good performance being displayed by women athletes at the centre and spoke about the performance of M Martina Devi, the Manipuri weightlifter who trains in NCOE Lucknow and has broken 7 records at the recently-concluded Khelo India Youth Games in Madhya Pradesh. "The facilities of a centre are put to test when athletes from the centre compete. Martina's recent feat proves that NCOE athletes in Lucknow are indeed getting the kind of training, diet, lodging facilities that they need."